


Not Another Hallmark Movie

by Starofwinter



Category: Star Wars Legends: Republic Commando Series - Karen Traviss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Depression, Eventual Romance, M/M, Meet-Cute, NaNoWriMo, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Service Dogs, Slow Burn, Tropes, Veterans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:48:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16513106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: Boss has been home for months now, and he still doesn't know what to do with himself.  Things take a turn for the better when he meets his neighbor, Niner, thanks to a runaway dog.  The only problem is, neither of them realize they're falling in love.





	Not Another Hallmark Movie

**Author's Note:**

> The tagline of this really should be: "What if Hallmark movies weren't cowards and made queer romances?"
> 
> I hope you all enjoy my descent into spite- and caffeine-fueled hell as I battle through 50k words!

“Delta!  Delta, where the hell are you-”  Boss curses as he jogs down the block, leash in hand.  

A waving hand catches his attention.  “I’ve got him.” One of his neighbors - new guy, Boss hasn’t met him yet - steps out of his backyard, nodding him over.  “Came to check out the free food eh, vod?” He turns to grin at Delta, as the big German Shepherd whines and drops to his belly next to the grill, chin on his paws.  

“Don’t give me that look,  _ shu’shuk _ , you know better,” Boss says, but he turns back to the guy and holds out his hand, “Thanks for catching him.  Name’s Boss, that’s Delta.” He sizes up the guy as they shake hands: clean-cut, firm grip, meets his eyes with a gaze that means Boss is getting the same treatment.  Ex-military, if he had to guess, not just a grunt, either. 

“Niner, good to meet you.”

“Sorry for the trouble, we’ll get out of your hair.  Delta,  _ k’olar _ .”  Boss whistles, and Delta trots over, shoving his head under his hand.

Niner shakes his head.  “Nah, it’s no trouble. You two should stay for dinner if you want, I’ve got plenty.”  He shrugs a little, going back to the grill. 

“If you wanna watch Delta for a minute, I’ve got a few beers in the fridge I can grab.”  

“I think we can manage, what do you say, vod?”  Niner scratches behind Delta’s ears as the dog trots back over at Boss’ command and leans against his legs, begging shamelessly for attention.  Boss shakes his head before he lets himself out of the backyard, heading back to his own house to retrieve the beer.

He’s never been overly friendly with his neighbors - a friendly wave or a hello while he’s jogging with Delta, or a comment about the weather when he’s checking his mail is the most he’s ever done.  They all know Boss better than he knows them;  _ local boy comes home from war _ , he thinks with a tinge of bitterness about the big spread they’d done in the newspaper.  He hadn’t wanted to do it, but he’d said yes because he didn’t know how to say no. His squadmates mocked him endlessly for the dumbstruck look on his face in the photo they published with it, and every last one of the bastards has it displayed prominently whenever he visits.  Even quiet Fixer gets this wicked little smirk, only grinning more when Boss punches him in the shoulder for it.

The point is, this is the longest conversation he’s had with anyone who wasn’t his therapist or the guys on base, and he’s kind of okay with it.  If anything, he has something to report back to Gregor when they meet up next. He’ll be pleased. Boss grabs the brand new six-pack of ale out of his fridge before pausing and grabbing a few other things to contribute to the impromptu cookout.  He hopes Niner will be okay with that.

When he gets back, Delta is still leaning against Niner’s leg, panting happily while he gets his ears scratched.  “Congratulations, you’ve made a friend for life,” Boss says with a grin, and he’s inordinately pleased when Niner grins back at him, big and happy.  

Niner chuckles and accepts the beer Boss hands him.  “Haven’t seen you around much,” he says, and Boss shrugs a shoulder.

“I don’t get out too much, at least not around this time,” he says simply.  Frankly, he’s usually sleeping or watching something mindless on TV right now, but he’d managed to drag himself out because Delta had been whining at him, leash in his mouth, and for fuck’s sake, he’s not  _ that _ much of a lazy bastard.

Gregor would have a few things to say about him calling himself that, but he makes a note to tell him anyway.  He’s trying. Mostly.

Niner just nods.  “Yeah, I work the night shift, I get you.  Trying to get used to being in this time zone again,” he says with a wry smile.

Boss chuckles and nods.  “Took me a couple of months to stop wanting breakfast at eight at night.”

“How long have you been back?”

“Not long enough,” Boss says with a laugh, and Niner laughs with him.  Fuck, it’s a good feeling. He’s missed it; he has Sev and Fixer and Scorch, but they’re practically in each other’s heads.  They don’t  _ need _ to talk about it to get it.  

“And Delta here, he looks like he’s got a story too, huh?”  Delta whines at Niner, nudging his head under his hand to sniff at the cooking meat.  

“Yeah, he was with me and my squad, kept us out of trouble.  We all came home together.” That’s the easy way to say they’d fought tooth and nail to bring their brother home with them, and he’d stayed longer than the others while Delta was quarantined, and he didn’t regret a single second of it.  “Now he’s just got one of us to keep out of trouble.” He reaches over to ruffle his ears, and Delta leans onto his legs hard enough to almost knock his knees out from under him, but he braces himself just in time.

Niner grins as he pulls the food off the grill and tosses a hot dog to Delta, who jumps up to snap it out of the air, devouring the whole thing in half a second.  “You gotta  _ savor _ it, vod’ika,” he teases the Shepherd, and Delta pants happily, whining at him.  

“Vod’ika?”  It’s the second time he’s called Delta that, and Boss is curious -  _ nosy,  _ he can hear Fixer correcting him,  _ you’re  _ **_nosy_ ** .  

Niner shrugs a shoulder.  “Sorry, it was my dog’s nickname when I was a kid, I told my parents I’d rather him than the little brother they brought home at the same time.”  He grins again, and Boss laughs. “I started pointing to the dog when they asked where my vod’ika was, and it just stuck - and I did end up liking my brother a lot more than I did then.  Actually, if you want to stick around, he should be coming by. He was supposed to be here earlier, but he got called out on a job, so he’s going to be a little late.”

Boss shrugs.  “Yeah, no problem, what does he do?”

“Firefighter,” Niner says, “Came back from the sandbox and missed the adrenaline rushes, so…  He started volunteering, then got himself a job.” Boss doesn’t miss the twist of worry in his expression, or the way he looks down the driveway without thinking about it, just to see if his brother is there.  He knows that feeling too well. 

“It’s not easy, knowing they could be in trouble and we can’t do anything about it,” he says, and Niner shakes himself before he nods.  

“You have brothers?”

“Nah, but I grew up with the guys that ended up in my squad.  It’s not the same thing, but I think it’s pretty close.” Boss doesn’t know why he’s talking like this with a guy who was a total stranger not half an hour ago, but he can’t help it.  Maybe he really is a lonely bastard, and he’s so starved for human contact that he’s latching on to the first person he talks to. 

He is  _ absolutely  _  not thinking about that right now.  That’s a problem for his allotted fifteen minutes of self-examination tonight, and right now, he’s going to enjoy himself.  

Huh, maybe Gregor is right.  He’s going to have to tell him that; never mind that it’s going to make him smile that damn smug smile because Gregor  _ is _ good at his job, and he  _ knows _ Boss-

Delta whines and nudges him, hard enough to almost startle him.  He manages to keep from jumping this time, but  _ goddammit  _ he’s probably been staring into space like a fucking idiot for ages.  He hopes Niner doesn’t think he’s a fucking head case.

He shakes his head and gives him an awkward little smile.  “Sorry about that.”

Niner waves him off.  “Hey, don’t worry about it.  I get it, you know?” He taps his temple.  “Shit happens, you have to live with it, right?”

Boss nods and lets out a deep breath, relaxing enough that Delta sits back down, even if he doesn’t stop watching him with those big dark eyes.  He smiles a little and ruffles his fur again. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Fuck, it feels good to know that  _ someone _ gets it, even when he doesn’t.  “That’s kind of why I have Delta, he can usually get me to knock off my shit, even when I’m in deep.”  God, why can’t he stop fucking talking?

Niner nods.  “I’m glad you do, it’s a good thing, having somebody around.”

Okay, that’s not… that’s not too bad, all told.  “Yeah, he’s a good buddy.”

Thank god, he’s saved from his own embarrassing inability to shut the fuck up by a truck pulling into the driveway.  A guy steps out, looking almost  _ identical _ to Niner, but maybe an inch shorter.  “Niner! You back here?” he calls as he walks around the house, and Delta - who’d been on his feet as the truck pulled up - starts barking as soon as he hears him.  “Whoa, you got a dog?”

“Delta, ke’shevla.”  Delta whines, trotting back to Boss’s heels to sit.  “Sorry about that, he’s mine.”

“Fi, this is Boss, from down the street - he and Delta are staying for lunch, if you’re okay with that?”

Boss holds out his hand, and pretends not to notice Fi sizing him up just the same way he’d done as soon as he saw him.  “Nice to meet you,” he says, with a nod and a smile as they shake hands, “Niner caught Delta here for me when he tried to reenact The Great Escape.”

“Okay, Niner, you have to keep this one-”

“I’m not keeping him just because he referenced your favorite movie, Fi,” Niner says with a roll of his eyes as Fi laughs.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I have a lot of great features; liking Steve McQueen is just one of them.”  Boss chuckles as Fi dodges Niner’s elbow aimed at his ribs.

“ _ Please _ don’t encourage him.  He’s an asshole.” 

“I’m genuinely hurt that you would say that about your favorite baby brother.”  Fi puts a hand to his heart. “I’m  _ wounded _ , Nate, I really am.  How could you be so terribly cruel to me, your only brother in the whole world, who has loved you and looked up to you for all these years?  I thought that was  _ special _ .  The bonds of brotherhood are  _ sacred _ and here you are-”

“Fi, shut the fuck up and eat your hot dog.”

Boss snorts softly, accepting a burger, and pretending not to notice Niner flipping another hot dog to Delta.

All in all, he thinks, this is a way better way to spend the afternoon than staying in bed and rewatching Netflix documentaries.


End file.
